Preston civil servants take industrial action on budget day

Preston Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union members walked out on strike today in defence of jobs and conditions in the public sector.

Civil servants at the Job Centre, Tax Office and other administrative buildings such as the Unicentre, Guild Centre and court buildings withdrew their labour in protest about the governments refusal to negotiate over cuts to pay, pensions and terms and conditions.

PCS will be holding an ‘alternative to cuts campaign’ rally on the Flag Market at 11am.

The strike on budget day is the first of two days of disruption announced by the PCS. A second date in their three-month programme of action will be a half-day walkout on Friday 5 April starting at 1pm.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “We will quickly follow up our budget day strike with a walkout on 5 April and step up our campaigning for the government to take serious action against wealthy tax dodgers.

“With polls showing people are less likely to support government policies if George Osborne’s name is attached, it is clear the public have lost faith in austerity and want an alternative.”

The government announced the closure of 13 tax offices and threatened 1,300 redundancies at the HMRC. The chancellor’s plan to generate £5.5bn by introducing a single tier pension earlier than expected will also cost most public sector workers hundreds of pounds a year, through extra National Insurance contributions.

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) is one of the largest trade unions in the UK, with around 270,000 members

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